Mass Effect 2: Convergence
by N7HG
Summary: Human history is a rich yet bloody tapestry, and the universe is a large place. Join Jessie Shepard as she builds a crew out of the best that Cerberus has to offer, and discovers why human colonies are under attack. Multi-Fandom Fic, Aliens, Firefly, Avatar, Terminator, and The list goes on. Probably Crack. But it makes sense. I promise. Paragon/Earthborn/ War Hero/ Shakarian.
1. Timeline

**Hello everyone! This here is a multi fandom fic that explores the idea that all sci-fi could potentially take place in the same universe. As noted in the description, this is likely full of healthy doses of crack, but I'm going to try and keep things as explainable as possible. To start off this ride, I've compiled a timeline that should hopefully explain the direction in which I am taking this story. The Shepard in this is a Fem/Paragon/Soldier/Earthborn/War Hero, and yes, there will be some Shakarian fluff at some point. Hope you all enjoy.**

**Timeline of Human History in Convergence **

** 1961**

April 12: Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostok 1 becomes the first human to travel in space. Humanity becomes a spacefaring race.

**1969**

July 20: Apollo 11 lands on Luna. Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on Luna, and the first human to walk on an astronomical object other than Earth. While on the moon, the crew discovers the wreckage of an alien spaceship containing the corpses of silicon based lifeforms. That part of the mission was quickly covered up, but the technology found is instrumental in advancing human interests.

**1994**

John Hammond, CEO of Ingen, creates Jurassic Park: a theme park on a tropical island near Costa Rica, populated with cloned dinosaurs. An investigation into the safety of the park is fatal for most of the people involved. The park is almost condemned, but John manages to convince the board to give him another try if he can improve the security system. Signing a deal with Cyberdyne allows him to create completely automated defenses for the park. No further incidents occur and Hammond is hailed for his advances in genetic research.

**2004**

Over the past twenty years, Cyberdyne made leaps and bounds in the robotics industry, vastly outdistancing their prime competitors at USR; especially concerning warfare, as the government has given them previously unknown technology to work with. Synthetic units have replaced almost everything used for warfare and have become a large part of daily life for many people. The corporation launches Skynet, the program developed to control all of the various platforms. Unfortunately, they realize too late that they had created a fully self aware artificial intelligence. Skynet attempts to terminate the human race in a misguided attempt to prevent them from destroying themselves.

**2029**

What becomes known as the termination war comes to a head when a young soldier named John Connor rises to lead what's left of the human resistance against their metal oppressors. The tide begins to turn in humanities favor, especially when the descendent dinosaurs from the original jurassic park are caught and tamed. This is repeated at locations around the world, as the robots are unprepared for attacks of this nature. To retaliate, Skynet is forced to come up with newer synthetic types, including an infiltration unit designed to disrupt human endeavors. The lookalikes are eventually called "cylons."

**2035**

USR, Cyberdyne's former competitor, reveals that they've been attempting to fight fire with fire by building synthetics to combat the terminators. These NS-5's are bound by the three laws developed by Isaac Asimov and are not true artificial intelligences. Although many people are displeased by this turn of events, the human forces augmented by these new synthetics are able to finally find and completely dismantle Skynet, ending the war and beginning the rebuilding process, Among the things rebuilt first is NASA, as a newer home would help relocate humans as much of the planet was destroyed. The NS-5's are summarily dismantled to prevent a second termination war from happening. Robotic research is outlawed and made punishable by death.

**2069 **

July 20: Armstrong Outpost at Shackleton Crater is formally founded as the first human settlement on Luna, on the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing. The wreckage found by Apollo 11 in 1969 is rediscovered and this time, made public knowledge. Humanity comes to realize that they weren't always alone.

**2070 **

Billionaire Victor Manswell, frustrated with the pace of official human space exploration, begins funding his own private spaceflight expedition.

**2075 **

The Manswell Expedition successfully launches from Earth en route to the Alpha Centauri system with 300 colonists aboard in cryogenic stasis. Communications with the vessel are lost soon after.

**2093**

Archeologists working for Weyland Corporation manage to decrypt artifacts left by a long dead space faring race and learn that they called themselves Cybertronians. Other data suggests that there were many races active in the past that were wiped out by a cataclysmic event. and they follow the trail to a distant moon. Only one person returns from the trip, babbling about deadly alien parasites. The mission is declared a failure and the events covered up by the corporation. Rumors abound.

**2103**

The European Space Agency's Lowell City in Eos Chasma becomes the first permanent human settlement on Mars

**2119**

Zefrem Cochrane begins a journey to Alpha Centauri to find any clues of what happened to the Manswell Expedition from decades ago and disappears. Some thought he was testing a new engine. After an exhaustive search, it is believed that Cochrane has died. He becomes one of the most famous missing people in history.

**2122**

The commercial towing spaceship Nostromo, owned and operated by Earth mega-corporation Weyland Industries, is on a return trip to Earth hauling a refinery and twenty million tons of mineral ore. Detecting a transmission of unknown origin from a nearby planetoid, they set out to investigate the transmission's source. Contact was lost with the ship soon after, and no trace of the crew was ever found.

**2135 **

The colony on Mars has slowly grown to be a haven for criminals and political refuse. As crime rates spiraled out of control, Ingen-Yutani takes matters into their own hands; using illegal genetic modification, the science corporation creates a genetically enhanced police force that act as judge, jury, and executioner. These enhanced humans are known as Judges.

**2137**

The Eldfell-Ashland Corporation demonstrates helium-3 fuel extraction from the atmosphere of Saturn.

**2143**

Construction of Jump Zero begins beyond the orbit of Pluto.

**2147**

Trace amounts of element zero are discovered on Mars.

**2148**

Humanity discovers a small cache of highly advanced Prothean technology hidden deep beneath the surface of Mars on the south polar region of Promethei Planum. Building on the remnants of this long extinct race, humans quickly explore the science of mass effect fields, leading to the development of faster than light travel and beginning detailed exploration of the Sol system.

**2149**

Following information from the translated data cache on Mars, humans discover that Charon, Pluto's moon, is actually a massive piece of dormant Prothean technology, a mass relay, encased in ice. Once activated, Jon Grissom leads the first team of explorers through the relay, which instantaneously transports them to another relay in Arcturus 36 light-years away. The explorers discover that the mass relays are part of a vast network, making travel across the galaxy possible.

The Systems Alliance charter is signed by the eighteen largest nations on Earth. The Alliance soon becomes the military and exploratory spearhead of humanity.

**2150**

The Systems Alliance begins the first surveys for colonization prospects outside the Sol System. One of these surveys discovers the planet Terra Nova

**2151**

The Alliance freighter Enterprise, first of its kind, is completed and given the task to find more planets like Terra Nova. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. To defend its expanding territory, humanity begins constructing a massive military fleet and space station at Arcturus, the nexus of several key mass relays, even though they have yet to encounter another intelligent spacefaring race.

An accident at Singapore International Spaceport exposes hundreds of humans to dust-form element zero. Roughly 30% of the children born in Singapore after element zero exposure suffer from cancerous growths.

**2152**

The Delta Pavonis Foundation, a major consortium based on Earth, begins settlement of humanity's first extra-solar colony world, the planet Demeter. Later that year, additional colonies are founded on Eden Prime and Terra Nova.

**2154**

The Enterprise makes first contact with the Na'vi, a pre-space flight alien race living on the the moon of Pandora near Alpha Centauri. However, they are shocked to find humans living on Pandora as well and soon come to realize that they have found the Manswell and Cochrane expeditions from eighty and thirty five years ago when they meet an aged Zephram Cochrane himself. A trade route is opened up soon after.

April 11: Shepard is born.

There is a second publicized accident involving the exposure of humans to element zero.

**2156**

Arcturus is formally inaugurated.

A small number of human children exposed to element zero exhibit minor telekinetic abilities.

**2157 **

Humanity makes violent first contact with another spacefaring race: the turians. The turians observe human explorers attempting to activate a dormant mass relay, a practice forbidden by galactic law after the Rachni Wars, and attack. Over the next three months, a brief but tense conflict known by humans as the Citadel Skirmishes and by turians as the Relay 314 Incident ensues.

The Citadel Skirmishes culminates in the turian siege and occupation of Shanxi, the first human world to fall to an alien race. Admiral Kastanie Drescher leads the Second Fleet in battle against Shanxi's occupiers one month later, catching the turians by surprise and evicting them from the planet.

The turians prepare for a full-scale war against humanity, but this draws the attention of the Citadel Council. The Council intervenes before hostilities escalate further, revealing the existence of the greater galactic community.

While aiding the human resistance effort on turian-occupiedShanxi, mercenary Jack Harper becomes embroiled in a plot by turian general Desolas Arterius to use an ancient alien artifact, the Arca Monolith, to convert the turian race into an army of invincible "meta-turians". Harper convinces Desolas' brother Saren of the dangers of the Monolith, which is "devolving" the turians into mindless beings under the Monolith's control. To protect his people, Saren orders the destruction of the building holding the Monolith, Temple Palaven, with Desolas and the meta-turians inside. Later, having realized that humanity and the galaxy face dark times ahead, Harper founds the human-survivalist organization Cerberus, publishes its manifesto, and assumes the identity of the Illusive Man.

An anonymous extranet manifesto is published following the end of the Citadel Skirmishes. The manifesto calls for an army, a "Cerberus", to be established to defend humanity against inevitable alien attacks. Derided as "survivalist rhetoric written by an illusive man", the manifesto is quickly forgotten by the media.

Pluto's orbit becomes circularized as a result of mass relay operations.

**2158**

Humans learn the potential of biotics. An international effort to track element zero exposures begins. Roughly 10% of recorded exposed children show indications of biotic ability.

**2159**

The Systems Alliance purchases Gagarin Station for a fraction of its construction cost, and converts the facility into a biotic research and training facility.

**2160**

The Systems Alliance Parliament is formed.

With the existence of human biotics firmly established, the Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training (BAaT) program is set up on Gagarin Station to train potential candidates and develop biotic implants.

The biotic drug red sand is first used.

**2161**

Amid concerns over gene therapy and genetic modifications being misused, the Systems Alliance Parliament passes the Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act. It imposes sharp restrictions on controversial uses of genetic engineering, but provides government subsidies for beneficial applications. Unknown to Alliance Officials, the organization known as Cerberus begins conducting genetic research on a distant colony. Dubbed the Miranda Project, the goal was to create enhanced humans. Contact with the colony was lost shortly afterwards.

Outraged by the lack of government protection outside of the Sol system while intending to make new laws, several colonies secede, starting the Unification war.

**2163**

The Alliance secretly begins illegal AI research at a base on Sidon with Dr. Shu Qian as project leader. Sanders is assigned as a tech analyst.

The first experimental L1 biotic implants are used in humans.

A series of starship drive failures are orchestrated over populated areas on human colony worlds, causing widespread exposures to element zero. This results in a second generation of humans born with biotic potential.

Alliance and Independent forces clash over Terra Nova.

**2164**

Ivor Johnstagg is sentenced to 21 years in prison for attempting to assassinate Venta Tox, the volus ambassador to the Citadel. Although Johnstagg claims to be acting on behalf of the radical human political party Eternal Earth, no connection is found and Johnstagg is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Backlash from the assassination attempt jeopardizes the Systems Alliance's bid for an embassy on the Citadel.

The Battle of Bekenstein, considered to be the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, ends with neither side gaining a true foothold. Both forces summarily pull off of the planet.

**2165**

Humanity continues to expand, founding more colonies and establishing trade alliances with many of the other species who recognize the authority of the Citadel Council. In 2165 CE, the Council makes official recognition of humanity's growing power and influence in the galactic community. Humanity is granted an embassy on the Citadel, the political and economic heart of the galaxy. Tensions grow between humans and batarians as they compete for territory in the Skyllian Verge.

After an Alliance research station at Sidon is attacked, David Anderson searches for those responsible alongside Kahlee Sanders, and discovers an Alliance scientist, Dr. Shu Qian, was conducting illegal AI research to unlock the secrets behind a mysterious artifact discovered near the Perseus Veil. Eventually, Anderson is assigned to work with Saren Arterius to track down Dr. Qian and his batarian supporter,Edan Had'dah. However, Saren instead kills both Dr. Qian and Had'dah, blames Anderson for the mission's failure, and uses Dr. Qian's research to search for the artifact himself.

Terrorists steal antimatter from the Alliance cruiser SSV Geneva. The sole figure arrested names his sponsor "Cerberus". This is the first such incident of sabotage connected to the Cerberus organization.

Rabid humans known as "Reavers" begin to appear in Citadel Space. Long thought to be the boogeymen of the Terminus systems, these crazies begin to hijack and terrorize ships in the Attican traverse. It is theorized that they have gone crazy from being too far removed from society. Support for the seceding colonies begins to waver.

**2167**

The Battle of Serenity Valley on Eden Prime effectively ends the alliance Civil War.

**2170**

The human colony of Mindoir is attacked by batarian slavers. Many colonists are killed or captured. Another human colony, Yandoa, suffers catastrophic dust-form element zero exposure to its atmosphere when an Eldfell-Ashland Energy ship explodes in orbit. Many children suffer birth defects; thirty-seven biotic children are born.

Biotic training for humans is outsourced to the military, selected R&D companies, and renamed divisions of the defunct Conatix Industries.  
L3 biotic implants are developed after L2 implants prove to be dangerous.

The first A-61 Mantis Gunships are produced.

**2171**

In protest at the refusal of the Citadel Council to limit human expansion in the Skyllian Verge, the batariansclose their embassy, withdraw into their home systems, and effectively become a rogue state.

Cerberus assassinates Pope Clement XVI on Earth via rosary beads coated with toxic substances; his death is attributed to age and heart failure. His successor, Pope Leo XIV, espouses beliefs more in-line with Cerberus' ideals.

**2172**

On Gagarin Station, "Eliza" becomes the first sapient AI created in the Systems Alliance.

**2173**

Terra Firma is involved in a Nashan Stellar Dynamics kickbacks scandal, forcing Inez Simmons, the current party leader, to resign. Charles Saracino becomes the new party leader after his opponent, Claude Menneau, is assassinated by Cerberus operatives while en route to Shanxi. Publicly, Menneau's disappearance is never explained.

**2175**

On a survey mission to 2175 Aeia, an important colonization prospect for the Systems Alliance, the MSV Hugo Gernsback disappears and is presumed destroyed.

Cerberus covertly contacts Michael Moser Lang, a political dissident on Earth, and provides him with funding to purchase weapons. Cerberus continues to monitor him after contact ends. One year later, Lang assassinates United North American States president Enrique Aguilar and Chinese People's Federation premier Ying Xiong. The resulting political shuffle benefits Cerberus' shell companies and plans for the Systems Alliance Parliament.

**2176**

Batarian-funded pirates and criminals launch a surprise attack, later known as the Skyllian Blitz, on the human colony of Elysium. The assault is repulsed by the Alliance Navy and ground teams.

The Jon Grissom Academy is commissioned over Elysium, and becomes home to the Alliance's new biotictraining program, the Ascension Project.

The Anhur Rebellions, a civil war waged over the practice of slavery, begin on the human and batarian colony world of Anhur and spread throughout the Amun system. Abolitionism supporters hire the Eclipse mercenary group to fight the batarian pro-slavery Na'hesit faction.

**2177**

During a recon mission to find a missing civilian transport on Akuze, a unit of fifty Alliance marines is wiped out by a strange insectoid race eventually dubbed Arachnids. There are only four survivors. Another, larger nest is discovered on Klendagon later that year. Asari scientists claim that the Arachnids may be what the Rachni evolved into over the centuries, which would mean that the Rachni wars did not fully exterminate the insects.

**2178**

In retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz, the Alliance launches a major offensive against the moon of Torfan and destroys the criminal bases there, mostly populated by batarians. The threat against human colonies from batarian extremists is curtailed.

The Alliance tracks several pirate FTL exit vectors over a period of six months using covert monitoring devices planted on Theshaca's moons, leading the Alliance Navy to eight major pirate anchorages. Since the "Theshaca Raids", no ships from the Terminus Systems have entered the Hong system.

The Anhur Rebellions end with the abolitionist forces in power, and the reconstruction of Anhur commences.

**2179**

The USS Sulaco is dispatched to investigate LV-426, after Weyland-IngenYutani loses contact with a terraforming colony there. They discover that Aliens dubbed Xenomorphs by the colony survivors have overrun the colony and encounter an Alien Queen. The outbreak started when scientists working for the mega corporation found the wreckage of the Nostromo drifting through space and attempted to clone the alien corpses found aboard.

**2182**

Admiral Kahoku of the Systems Alliance begins investigating suspected Cerberus activities.

**2183**

Humans and turians collaborate on an engineering project co-sponsored by the Citadel Council: an experimental frigate with a prototype stealth system, the SSV Normandy. David Anderson is given command of the ship, and Commander Shepard is assigned as executive officer.

The human colony of Eden Prime is attacked by the geth, initiating a wider conflict between humans and geth known as the Eden Prime War. After exposing the involvement of rogue Spectre Saren Arterius in the attack, Commander Shepard and the crew of the SSV Normandy pursue Saren in his search for the Conduit, later revealed to be part of a larger plan orchestrated by the Reaper Sovereign to return its kind to the galaxy. While Shepard follows Saren through the legendary Mu Relay to the Conduit, Sovereign and a geth fleet assault the Citadel. Shepard defeats Saren and the Alliance Navy destroys Sovereign, preventing the release of the Reapers.

Aria T'Loak interrupts a meeting between Blue Suns mercenaries and the Collectors on Omega, and learns that the Collectors have a dangerous interest in humanity.

One month after the Battle of the Citadel, the SSV Normandy is attacked and destroyed by an unidentified assailant, resulting in the death of Commander Shepard. Later, the Systems Alliance officially declares Shepard "killed in action".

Commander Shepard's body is recovered by Blue Sunsmercenaries for the Shadow Broker, who has been hired by the Collectors. Cerberus eventually obtains the body with the help of Liara T'Soni and begins work on the Lazarus Project.

L4 biotic implants are developed.

Two months after the Battle of the Citadel, galactic society is still in flux over the changes to the Council and kept unaware of the true nature of Sovereign, the Citadel, and the mass relays. Cerberus pushes ahead with plans for both the Ascension Project and the quarian Migrant Fleet, but is foiled by the actions of Kahlee Sanders and Paul Grayson. After an attack by Cerberus forces, the Migrant Fleet changes its conservative policy, sending ships away from the Flotilla to look for new homeworld sor possibly a dormant Reaper.

The Systems Alliance dispatches several special forces units to aid the colony of Fehl Prime, which is under attack by Blood Pack forces. Most units are shot down before landing, but Delta Squad survives and defeats the Blood Pack. The Alliance assigns Delta Squad to guard the colony.

**2184 **

The Eden Prime War comes to a close. Although most geth forces in Citadel space were destroyed in the Battle of the Citadel, holdouts yet remain. The Alliance Navy reduces its patrols, relying instead on civilian ships to report any geth activity. Raids are carried out against identified geth outposts, but the conflict is essentially over.

The freighter MSV Estevanico is attacked by Reavers and crashes into the planet Zanethu. The Alliance crew on board were among the first humans to encounter the vorcha race.

L5 biotic implants are developed.

Human colonies come under attack by an alien horde called the Locust due to their battlefield tactic of dropping down to a planet and abducting everything living on the ground. They are eventually revealed to be the enigmatic Collectors. As the attacks are limited to human colonies in the Terminus, the Citadel Council declines to intercede.

**2185 - Present Day**

Fehl Prime is attacked by the Collectors after a Cerberus agent hoping to discover their intentions signals them. Most of Delta Squad is lost during the battle for the colony, but they succeed in disabling the Collector ship. Delta Squad member James Vega chooses to rescue the asari Treeya, who possessed vital intel on the Collectors, leaving the colonists to die aboard the Collector ship when it crashes on the planet's surface.

Commander Shepard is revived.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. I'm hoping to have the first chapter up and running within a week. Feel free to R&R and point out any mistakes I make in the Lore. **

**The Convergence is underway. **


	2. Prologue

The chamber was well lit, owed to the slowly revolving star that rotated outside of the specially shielded window. A dark haired woman dressed in white and black made her way past an array of holo monitors and stopped short behind a chair that was placed in the center of the room. In that chair sat a man with his back to her, tapping cigarette ashes onto the floor. "Sir," she greeted simply. He made no reply, but she knew he was waiting for a status report on the project, and so she began to talk, starting with a little deflection to avoid getting to the heart of the matter.

"Shepard did everything right, more than what we could've hoped for... saving the Citadel, even saving the council. Humanity has the trust of the entire galaxy." Turning her head toward him, she continued. "And still, it's not enough." Tapping the cigarette in his left hand, he finally spoke. "Our sacrifices have earned the Council's gratitude, but even in her current state, Shepard remains our best hope."

The woman arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "But they got her killed fighting Geth. Geth," she said as she walked through the holovids to stand before the Illusive Man. " And we both know they're not the real threat. Not with Xenomorphs running amuck on distant colonies and alliance forces embroiled in a war against the Collectors. And then of course, the Reapers are still out there." The Illusive Man read over a datapad in silence before taking another drag from his cigarette and offering the statement: "And it's up to us to stop them," before exhaling his smoke.

She crossed her arms. "The council will never trust Cerberus. They'll never accept our help, even after everything humanity has accomplished." She turned toward the monitor with Shepard's picture and a physical readout still displayed. "But Shepard, they'll follow her. she's a hero, a bloody icon." She turned back to face her superior. "But she's just one woman," she stated. "If we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow."

She watched as her boss put out his cigarette in the ash tray built in the armrest in his chair. Looking up at the reports, he finally issued his order to her. "Then see to it that we don't lose her. Now tell me. How is Project Lazarus performing?" The woman tapped her omni tool and brought up a readout of Commander Shepard. "Well, over the two years since her body was recovered, we've had plenty of data to work off of. Health records, personal history, military history, specialized skills, psychological profile... It's clear that you want this to go far smoother than the last time the Lazarus Project was used to bring someone back." The last sentence was punctuated by a snort of derision and contempt.

"Don't get testy," The Illusive Man admonished. "Remember, Shepard's only been gone for two years. You were brought back after close to sixty, and information on you was scarce. It is my hope that it won't take four years to restore her as it did you, because humanity needs her now. Your last report mentioned that she had woken up. Motor functions and brain activity."

The woman nodded. "Shepard should be fully responsive within the week."

The Illusive Man took yet another drag of his cigarette and motioned for her to leave with the nod of his head. "Tell Miranda to keep up the good work, and contact Brooks. She needs to start compiling dossiers for Shepards new crew. I want sympathetic faces. Have her find flight lieutenant Jeff Moreau and Dr. Karin Chakwas. Tap Kelly Chambers and Kenneth Donnelly. I imagine Ms. Daniels will follow. For the team, we need mercenaries, biotics, soldiers and scientists; the best that humanity has to offer." The woman typed that all down onto a datapad as she turned to leave. "Will that be all sir?" Though she couldn't see his face, she detected a hint of amusement in his voice. "Tell the Corporal to prepare for field operations, and stock up on equipment yourself. The two of you will be the first members of her squad."

The cerberus operative balked a little and uttered a small sigh of annoyance. "Does that make us sympathetic faces too?"

" Ellen, I need people I can trust keeping an eye on Shepard. And as you were the first success with the Lazarus Project, it's only right that you be the one to make sure that Shepard suffers no side effects."

****She nodded curtly and made her way out of the door. If there was one thing that Ellen Ripley knew, it was that he had avoided answering her question.

* * *

**And there we have the alternate prologue in the Convergence Universe. I'm excited for what happens next. **


	3. Convergence Chapter One

**Location: Secret Cerberus Science Facility**

**Two Years, 12 days after the Destruction of the SSV Normandy SR-1**

It was exhausting for Ellen to read through what seemed like an endless number of reports about Commander Shepard. After two years of research, they just weren't interesting anymore. Shaking her head, she moved over to a pile of datapads chronicling Cerberus's ongoing efforts to track the xenomorph plague. She still hated the Illusive Man for having one of his facilities clone them in the first place, but she had to admit that he was the only one actively doing anything to fix his mistake. The Alliance and the Citadel had done nothing but attempt to bomb several of the colonies from orbit and leave the rest to die, forming naval blockades around the infested planet's. More than half a century, she'd been nothing more than a frozen corpse drifting through the inky darkness of space; and in that time, politicians hadn't changed a damn bit.

It had come as quite a shock to her when she had awoken in a hospital bed in 2183 and discovered that humanity was now a part of a galactic society. It wasn't hard to convince her to join Cerberus, not when the only interaction she had had with aliens was them trying to kill her. She had read up on things like the Citadel Skirmishes and other altercations humanity had had during her stasis and it hadn't done much to dissuade her. Officially, she didn't exist and the only people in Cerberus who knew who she really was was limited to her boss and his number one flunky Miranda "ice-queen" Lawson. The genetically altered female was the one who had brought Ellen back herself, but that didn't mean Ellen felt she owed the other woman anything.

In fact, she wasn't sure why she had been assigned to the Lazarus Project's newest subject at all. As she continued to study the reports, an alarm suddenly sounded out through the station, startling her.

Station wide alert!

Ellen shot up from her desk and darted over to a terminal to check the security cameras. She felt her blood run cold as she studied the images. In the first camera, there was a spray of fresh crimson fluids across the wall. In the second, she spotted a table and a dead man, both were smoking, and both had holes in them from which dripped an all too familiar liquid. In the third, her fears were confirmed, as she watched a hapless member of one of the science teams being eviscerated by the tail of a large bipedal alien. What was the man's name? Webber? She supposed it didn't matter now. Tapping into her comm, a small hologram of a raven haired woman appeared, and Ellen immediately began venting her anger.

"Lawson. You wanna tell me how the hell Xenomorphs got onto this station?"

Miranda shook her head and looked peeved. "They appear to have been hiding aboard one of the supply ships that arrived this morning." Ellen rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Thank goodness security did their jobs. What's the plan Boss Lady?" "

"The plan? The plan is for you to recover Shepard and get off this station before the core goes critical and destroys every living thing aboard."

Ellen grimaced, but kept talking. "Now why would the core do a thing like that?"

Miranda raised an eyebrow and responded. "Because I've just overloaded it. The Illusive Man has a contingency plan in place for everything. Enough talk. Find Shepard and meet me in the shuttle bay in forty minutes." The comm clicked off and Ellen shook her head before wrenching open a locker and hastily grabbing a set of Cerberus assault armor and a katana shotgun. "Right. Find Shepard before everything gets blown the f*** into space. Now when have I had the occasion to say that before?"

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Ten minutes had been spent walking down an eerily empty hallway, lit only by the emergency lights, and Ellen was already starting to think back to her ordeal aboard the Nostromo. Hard to believe that was more than fifty years ago. Something skittered across the floor ahead of her and she stopped short, bringing the shotgun up to beat and scanning the area. She hadn't seen any sign of Xenomorphs yet, other than Cerberus personnel that had been shredded and left all over the station. The only man she had encountered had died soon afterwards, as it tends to be hard to breathe when your lungs have been punctured. The mechs were no help at all, as acid had ruined the security systems activation protocol.

According to the schematic she had on her Omnitool, Shepards room was three more winding hallways around the bend. Miranda had checked in with Ellen once to let her know that several security officers had been dispatched to Shepard's room and that it was now in lockdown. As if locked doors will keep those things from getting what they want. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye again and let off a blast to her right. There was a shrieking noise and something wet slid down the wall. Adjusting her guns flashlight, she was horrified to see blood bubbling out of a dying facehugger. Shit. I forgot how fast these things breed. And they arrived this morning. Shit. Shit Shit.

A few more steps and the screech of rending metal reached her ears, punctuated by gunshots and screams. Ellen ran the rest of the way grimly, listening to the roar of xenomorphs and hoping that the gunshots wouldn't stop before she got there. A few tense minutes later, she rounded a corner and saw a pair of dead aliens and triple that of dead humans. But the cause for concern was the pack of five aliens forcing their way past a shattered door. She didn't know how many people were still alive in there, but she heard someone say the name Shepard before screaming and then stopping short.

That was all she needed to hear to start blasting away. Two of the creatures stopped what they were doing and turned towards Ellen with monstrous hisses; one of them even spat a globule of viscous spit at her, which she promptly rolled away from. It splashed on the floor behind her and immediately began eating away at the metal. Ellen cursed and shot one of the things square in the face, staining the ceiling with green blood and fragments of black carapace. "You hear that? Someones out there!" Another spray of bullets erupted out of the doorway, and the creatures screeched in pain.

Ellen let loose a concussive shot that had been priming the past few minutes and let it slam into the xenomorphs, knocking them down the hallway. Without checking to see if they were dead or not, she hurled herself into the remains of the door, dropping to the floor to avoid getting shot at and skidding on some sticky wetness. "Great, we have another gun now! Can we go? Now? Please?" Picking herself up, Ellen was faced by a pair of armored men a woman with medium length brown hair that could only have been -

"Commander Shepard?"

"Yeah, that's me," The Spectre said quietly. "You Miranda?" The soldier shook her head.

"Name's Ellen Ripley. Miranda sent me to find you."

Shepard nodded. "She was saying something about that when we lost contact with her. I'm gonna guess that you know these guys." Ellen glanced at the two men with Shepard and nodded. "Yeah, Wilson here is one of the science geeks and the jarhead with the buzzcut is Corporal Johnny Rico. Woulda thought Miranda woulda sent Jacob to keep an eye on you."

Jessica Shepard shook her head and pointed to the table behind them. With the emergency lights, Ellen was just able to make out the form of a man sitting with his back to the wall, dark liquid staining the white parts of his uniform. "Taylor arrived first. But one of the aliens got in and well... his barriers kept us safe for as long as he could manage."

"Damn. He was one of the good ones."

"And now he's dead. Like we will be if we don't get going." Ellen turned to the speaker, the bald man and shot him a look. "Speaking ill of the dead Wilson? Never mind. By my count we have less than twenty five minutes before the core goes critical; Miranda told you that right?" The three people shook their heads, with Wilson making an odd noise in his throat. However, none of them had anything else to say and complied with what Ellen had said. The four of them walked swiftly down the corridor in silence, anxious to make their way off of the station. All was quiet save for the sound of breathing and the clomp of boots on the metallic floor. That is, until a thumping noise sounded from somewhere behind them.

"The hell was that?" Said Rico.

"Who cares? Let's just go already." muttered Wilson.

Ellen was inclined to agree, but a shudder passed through the hallway which stunned them all into silence.

"See? It's stuff like that that makes me wonder why the hell we aren't already g-"

Wilson's words turned into a scream as a xenomorph burst out of the air vent above and speared him through the chest, hoisting him into the air with a gurgle. The rest of the team immediately opened fire, but when a pair of aliens crashed down through the ceiling, Shepard yelled for everyone to move and within seconds the hall was alive with flashes of gunfire and the unearthly screech of jabbering xenomorphs. They ran for what seemed like hours, sprays of acidic blood splashing the walls behind them and painting the scene in horrific hues.

There was nothing fueling them through the corridor but adrenaline and fear, urged on by the monsters that hounded them, baying for blood. They made it down a flight of stairs into a larger area, one that seemed free of the beasts, and Rico sealed the door behind them, gasping for breath as his omnitool clicked off. "That..That won't hold them for long." As if to accentuate his point, a noisy crash vibrated the frame. "Shuttle bay is just over there!" The door to the shuttles slid open and they ran through, the first tripping on something and causing the three of them to land on the floor in a tangle of limbs and weapons. "What was..."

Rico clammed up as the emergency lights revealed a shapely and rather familiar form on the floor, face hugger wrapped around delicate features. "Shit. That was Miranda," Rico said with a grunt. "She's still breathing. But..." Before anyone could say or do anything, he let off a burst of gunfire and turned her head into a stain. "That's not living." Shepard uttered a protest, but Rico held a hand up. "Trust me. This was the best thing we could have done for her."

"If you say so. Let's get going. I've had enough of this station to last me a lifetime."

"Or two." Rico deadpanned.

"She ain't the only one." Ellen said with a small shake of her head.


	4. The Start Of Something New

It was nice to be on the bridge of her ship again, even if things weren't quite the way she used to be. Having Joker and gave Jessie a sense of familiarity, of home. Especially when the majority of the crew were strangers working for Cerberus. And yet, she felt that there were some good people here, just in the wrong place. She wasn't sure what to make of Ellen and Rico either. They had proved themselves to be capable soldiers on the last mission, though she had to wonder if their brusqueness played a part in convincing Tali not to come along. At least the quarian had seemed grateful that Veetor had been allowed to go back to the flotilla. It was just another reminder of how far she had drifted from her comrades in arms the past two years.

According to the illusive man, Wrex had gone back to Tuchanka, Liara to Ilium, and Ash had been reassigned by the alliance. And Garrus? He had dropped off the grid after her death. That was the most disheartening of all, and she truly missed their talks. Of the crew, Joker had said that the survivors had drifted after the fallen had been laid to rest. More than once she had looked up from the galaxy map and expected to see Pressly off to her left, or to see faces she knew pass by her in the corridor. It was because of this that she had to build a new team with which to combat this Collector menace. Precious little data was available about them, other that they were considered to be a myth by most civilizations and that the first sightings are relatively recent. The data that Cerberus gave her that was actually useful pertained to the people that they wanted her to pick up. The "best" that humanity had to offer.

She picked up a pad and looked at her reflection before pressing one of the buttons. She had the same ruddy white skin, dark black hair and facial features, though it kind of looked like her nose leaned just a little more to the right than it used to. And maybe her eyes were a little farther apart than she remembered. But she forced herself not to dwell on that and started reading the dossiers instead.

_Archangel_

_- Small-unit tactical expertise_

_- Omni-tool expert and noted sniper_

_Archangel is a mercenary commander whose operations are noted for their technical expertise and strategic brilliance. He is responsible for high-profile attacks on gang leaders on Omega and can likely be found there._

_Dr. Leonard Mccoy_

_- Biological weapons expert_

_- Licensed Surgeon_

_- Has studied every known alien biology_

_Dr. Mccoy is a biological weapons expert whose skills may hold the key to countering Collector attacks. He is currently serving as the chief medical officer aboard the Alliance Frigate Enterprise._

_Subject Zero_

_- Exceptional biotic ability_

_- Note: Criminal background, currently in custody_

_Rumored to be the most powerful human biotic ever encountered. Very little additional data regarding him is available, except that the subject has a history of violence and should be approached carefully. Currently being held on the turian prison ship Purgatory. Cerberus has negotiated for the prisoner's release._

_Dr. Halsey_

_- Decades of combat and strategic experience_

_- Rumored familiarity with Collector technology_

_A brilliant and brutal human geneticist, Dr. Halsey has become obsessed with the helping humanity survive the coming of the Reapers and is believed to have contacted the Collectors in an attempt to gain technology to that end. She is currently located on Korlus, where she is rumored to working with a Krogan Warlord._

_Chell_

_- Master of stealth and infiltration_

_- Skilled hacker and information specialist_

_- Operates completely off the grid_

_- No criminal record_

_Chell is not just the most well known escape artist, she's the best. Trained in the arts of stealth and infiltration, she has "acquired" artifacts and information from all over the galaxy and yet maintains a completely clean criminal record. A former cerberus operative, she went rogue some years ago after stealing some technology. She is awaiting rendezvous with Shepard on the Citadel, in Zakera Ward._

_The Mercenary_

_- Expert in both personal and small unit combat_

_- Unparalleled mercenary soldier and bounty hunter_

_- Known for a willingness to get the job done, no matter the cost_

_Without a doubt, the most feared mercenary and bounty hunter in the galaxy._

_ His services have been retained by Cerberus at extremely high cost. _

_Currently awaiting pickup on Omega. You won't find him, he'll find you. His name is unknown._

Shepard sighed quietly. These people did not seem to the kind of people that worked well in groups, let alone under another person's command. Some of them seemed borderline crazy. But if they were the only ones willing to put their lives on the line to stop the collectors, then they were the ones then she would make sure that they would learn how to function as a team. Rico had suggested that they head to omega first, kill two birds with one stone as it were. But the criminal capital of the Terminus systems was not a place that sounded like it was in urgent need of her presence. Ellen had had no opinion. Shepard had noticed that the older woman didn't seem to have one about most things. Whatever the case, Shepard received the impression that both of them were keeping things from her.

"Joker, set a course for Korlus."

"Aye aye Commander."

In the meantime, Shepard decided it was time to get to know her squad. She went to Rico's room first, as he had a cot in the armory on the same level of the ship. The door slid open and she could see that he was re-assembling a shotgun of some sort. He looked up as she entered and grunted a greeting before turning back to his workbench. "Y'want something Commander?"

Jessie walked farther into the room, examining the racks of guns and explosives with a careful eye before sitting up on one of the tables and clasping her fingers together. "I just like to get to know my crew." Rico nodded, but continued twisting the shotgun barrel on in silence. Jessie pursed her lips and cleared her throat before continuing. "You used to be Alliance, but your file said that you left after your squad was wiped out by... arachnids?" Rico slapped the gun down suddenly and turned around to give Shepard a raised eyebrow. "Are you really asking me about that?" She shrugged. Rico went back to work on the gun and grimaced. " They told me you bother your crew like this. But I'll humor you. For bow. A couple years back I was part of a swuad that answered a distress call. A civilian ship had crashed on Klendagon and we were the closest garrison in the area. The SSV Madagascar dropped twenty-five of us a three miles away from the crash site because something was screwing with the sensors. Never did find out what. But the distress call had been running for close to a week. We found the ship without difficulty but with only three survivors, which was a hell of a lot less than the ships records had indicated."

Rico sighed after that and placed the eviscerator on a shelf, gripping the worktable with both hands. "The survivors told us that the rest of their shipmates had been dragged off or killed by giant insects of some sort that only came out at night. The only reason the three of them had survived this long was because they were all biotics." A dry chuckle escaped from his lips. " We didn't believe them. Couldn't find any bug bodies. Course, they said the bugs took their fallen with them when they left. We started escorting them back to the LZ, but night fell. A faraway look entered Rico's eyes as he stared at the wall. "I later found out that the bugs were some kind of evolved form of the Rachni, but I didn't care by then. We managed to rescue all three of the civilians, but I was the only soldier that made it with them. The Alliance Brass tried to cover up what had happened as a "training exercise" gone wrong. But then the Citadel Council had to go in and bomb the place from orbit. Couldn't have a galaxy wide panic about rachni now could they? So yeah. I cut ties and here I am. Now, if you'll excuse me, storytime is over."

The soldier started dismantling a sniper rifle in silence and Shepard coughed awkwardly.

"I should go."

_**Hey there readers! Life has kept me busy with many things the past few months, but I'm glad I was able to finally pound this chapter out. Next chapter begins recruitment, and while most of the dossiers are deliberately obvious, I've tried to keep a few more ambiguous. Next update will be whenever I have time. - N7HG**_


End file.
